A large paubha depicting Vishnu, Nepal, 18th century

British Private Collection, since 1980s.

Acquired in London, 2005.

This large and finely painted paubha depicts Vishnu, the preserver, holding his standard implements–a chakra and ghada in his proper-left hands and a padma and shankha in his proper-right hands. A seven-headed shesha (serpent) encircles Vishnu’s head like a halo, their entwined bodies, in a braid-like form, can be seen meandering down his legs and their tails peak out behind his splayed toes. He is flanked by Garuda on his left and Narada on his right. All three figures are enshrined within a beautiful and ornately decorated palace-like temple and are elegantly framed by a torana or heavenly gateway, each figure atop a lotus; Vishnu’s is distinguished by its natural colors while his attendants’ lotuses are tri-colored, matching the palette of the deity’s dhoti. Within the top two registers we see many other significant Hindu deities including Surya atop a green horse, Chandra atop a crow-pheasant, Yama atop a buffalo, Bhairava or Rudra with his lower body engulfed in flames, Shiva on Nandi, Brahma atop a goose, Indra atop an elephant, and Agni atop a goat.

This painting is worthy of direct comparison to a dated painting (1681) of Vishnu, enshrined in the same fashion and surrounded by the same retinue in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art attributed to Bhaktapur (accession no. M.73.2.2; also published in Nepal: Where the Gods are Young, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1975, pl. 116). Minor design elements such as the repeated scrolling floral border which runs vertically as well as the yellow and white floral columns which run horizontally across the top of the painting suggest that the present may be from the same period, while the simplified vines and schematic petals surrounding the animals and deities encircled in red columns to the immediate right and left of the central shrine suggest that this may be a later copy of the 1681 LACMA example.